Activities for Infants to Stimulate Their Senses

Vision

Infants love looking at faces. Newborns can only see clearly for eight to 12 inches, so it is important to hold your baby close for the first few months until his sight fully develops. Make funny expressions and noises after a few months to hold a baby's interest. He will also enjoy looking at pictures of faces -- especially of other babies. Toys and books with bright colors also stimulate an infant's sense of sight.

Infants enjoy everyday sounds. Keep your baby close as you go about your day. Talk to your baby and pretend to converse with her immediately after she is born. She will eventually join in with her own noises, signifying the beginning of language development. Play different styles of music to soothe a fussy baby to provide hearing stimulation. Give an infant toys from around the house, such as small pots and pans, to encourage her to make her own music.

Babies are born with a fully developed sense of smell. Expose an infant to many different scents, such as sweet (cookies baking) and stinky (dirty diaper). Gather several items from the kitchen for an infant to smell. Let him smell the items and then talk about them with him so he can match the words he's hearing with the item.

Give your infant different foods to see what she enjoys most after she starts eating solid food around 4 months of age. Give her sweet and salty foods and let her lick a sour lollipop. These types of foods are also good for prodding infants to speak. Only introduce one food every four days to your child in case she has an allergic reaction. Doing this will not leave you guessing what food she's allergic to.

Touch may be the most important sensory experience for a baby because of the amount of time an infant needs to be held and attended to. Give infants a light massage with baby lotion or oil. As a parent gently rubs a baby from the top of her head to her last little toe she will become aware of all the parts of her body and have an increased body awareness. Expose infants to different textures they can feel and learn from. Supervise an infant while he feels cotton balls, sandpaper, ice cubes and other items with different tactile properties.